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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003513">You will be found</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctery/pseuds/doctery'>doctery</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>IT (Movies - Muschietti), IT - Stephen King</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Soulmates, M/M, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, awkward teenage boys, seriously this is just fluff nothing bad happens, they're 16 in this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-06-30</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 04:42:19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>6,490</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25003513</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/doctery/pseuds/doctery</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Soulmate AU were you get a mark where your soulmate touches you for the first time (skin on skin)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Eddie Kaspbrak/Richie Tozier</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>4</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>99</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>You will be found</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/inlovewithfictionalcharacters/gifts">inlovewithfictionalcharacters</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>as always here folks: English isn't my first language! thanks to for pettigrace beta-reading, they helped me with the most typos and gramma &lt;3</p><p>This is also the longest thing I've ever wrote! So yay I'm super proud!</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <span>EDDIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonia Kaspbrak was scared as hell when the doctors handed her her first born child and half of his face was covered in crimson red. She screamed at the nurses that her son was sick and he needed help while the nurses tried to calm her down. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„It‘s just his soulmate mark.“ They said calmly, but Sonia wasn‘t having any of it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Frank!“, she screamed at her husband. „Do something! The baby needs, needs medicine o-or surgery!“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>She was close to hyperventilating so Frank took the baby from her. The little guy in his arms looked kinda confused about what was going on but he wasn‘t crying. Frank couldn‘t help but smile at his little son. He was too precious. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Sonia, he‘s fine.“ He ensured his wife, who had stopped screaming but was breathing audibly. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>One of the nurses came to Frank’s side and looked at the baby’s face. „It kinda looks like a handmark... I‘m not sure. But it will change when he grows up, as he gets bigger the mark will get smaller. But yeah,“ she let her hand hover over the baby’s face „I‘m sure it‘s a handmark.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Kinda weird place to touch someone for the first time, isn‘t it?“ Frank laughed and so did the nurse. He was just full of endorphins holding his baby.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Sonia never really seemed to be able to get used to the mark. Frank caught her sometimes putting make-up on their son so it wouldn‘t be too visible. The mark had been a bright red when Eddie was born but it was already changing into a more purple tone. It looked like a burn mark. Frank’s own soulmark had been on his hand like most people and he never had been sure if he ever met his soulmate, because you shake hands pretty all the time, don‘t you?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eddie was three years old when his father passed away.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>School wasn‘t particularly fun. At all. Even though soulmarks were something almost everybody had, having it right on your face was still unusual. So at school he kept his head down, tried to avoid crowds and eat his lunch in the corner of the cafeteria. Just so no one would notice him. Some people did notice him anyway and pointed and laughed at him or called him „slap-face“ and tried to hit him right at the mark. Eddie hated that the most. He didn‘t wanted anyone to touch his mark. What IF it really was a sign that Eddie’s soulmate would hit him in the face? He prayed for a gentle soulmate.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>As Eddie was growing up, the skin on his face grew as well and the mark moved, too. It wasn‘t covering half of his face anymore and it was clearly showing a hand now, too. The thumb print started at the corner of his right eye and the rest of the fingers were now situated more on his neck. It looked like someone would cradle his face. A loving gesture and Eddie would probably like his mark if the other kids weren‘t making fun of him for it. His mother also never been a fan of his mark. At some point she started complaining that one day someone would take Eddie away from her. At first Eddie had ensured his mother that he would never leave her, he loved her very much. But by the time he was 16 he desperately wished someone would take him away.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Today was one of the rare days where his mother had let him out. He wanted to go to the public pool with his friends. He wasn‘t a big fan of public places but hanging out with his friends and escaping his mother for a bit was always awesome. Also it was super hot so viva la pool!</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RICHIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Richie Tozier’s soulmark was just a weird blob. That usually happens when someone just brushes past you and for example your shoulders accidently bump. His mark was rather small and on the inside of his arm. It never really bothered him and most of the time he even forgot it was there. Sometimes he wondered if, maybe, he already met his soulmate and accidently touched them without noticing it. Kinda depressing, don‘t you think? You know there is this one person for you out there but you may never know if you met them? Anyway, enough time spent in depressing lane; he had stuff to do and places to be! Today he was meeting up with his best friend Stan to go to the local pool. It was 36 Degrees (Celsius I‘m not gonna calculate it into Fahrenheit, you weird Americans) outside and he couldn‘t wait to get into the cool waters!  Last summer, Richie had discovered that he was not quite straight and the realization had freaked him out a little. He knew there was nothing wrong with being gay but just the thought of having to come out to his parents one day and be like „Mom, Dad, this is my boyfriend.“ made him feel like puking. And that‘s how he found himself in the endless struggle of wanting a boyfriend and never wanting to come out. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He rode his bike to the old bridge, their usual meeting place. „Stan, my man,“ he greeted his friend who gave him an annoying but endearing laugh in reply.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The pool was packed! Who would have thought on a day like this? They managed to get a spot that was further away from the pool but at least under a tree, so they didn‘t had to sit in the sun all noon. Richie was ready to ditch his cloths and head towards the pool when Stan grabbed his ankle. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„You forgot something.“ Stan said, holding up a bottle of sunscreen. Richie rolled his eyes but sat back down on his towel. He was just about to rub a generous amount of screen all over his face when, in a high pitched voice, was asked: „Would you mind if we sat here?“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Having sunscreen in his eyes ,he couldn‘t see who asked but that didn‘t matter because Stan had already said yes. When he could see again, the three boys had already settled down. One was tall, one was black and the one having his back towards him was tiny.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„You‘re Bill from geography, right?“, Stan asked the tall kid.  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Y-y-yeah, right. We-we h-had the g-g-g-group project last semester.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie realized he knew the kid ,too, but only from others making fun of his stutter. He had never talked to him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Come on, Stanley. Vamos, the water‘s waiting.“ Richie said. Stan apologized to the kid, Bill, but followed Richie regardless. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The water felt amazing. His body began to relax and Richie felt like he could think clearer. Of course, the pool was packed and you couldn‘t actually swim, but he and Stan had found themselves a spot at the corner where they could hold on to the rink and splash around with the water. This was what summer was suppose to feel like. Still, Richie couldn‘t help himself and looked around, eyed the boys from the corner of his eyes. Seeing shirtless boys wasn‘t new to him but it still felt exciting now that he was interested in that kinda thing. He wondered what it would feel like to hug another boy while they were both half naked. The thought made his cheeks heat up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„What‘s up?“ Stan asked suddenly. He looked at Richie, the question into his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> To avoid a conversation he dove his head underwater. When he came back up he shook his head, splashing water all over Stan. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other boy looked just a bit annoyed but still serious. „You can talk to me, Richie, you know that, right?“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie let out an awkward laugh. Should he tell Stan? He never had a crush on his best friend, so it shouldn‘t change anything. But it would, wouldn‘t it? His heart was racing like crazy and when he finally said the words, he had half of his head underwater so most of the words came out as bubbles. „I like boys.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>It took Stan a second to get what Richie just said, but then he just said „Oh“ and started laughing. „That‘s cool, Richie.“ He said, still smiling, and then dunked Richie’s head under water again.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie felt giddy. It was the first time he had come out to someone and it went really well. It felt good. So good that he invited Stan to a cone of  ice cream when they made their way back to their place under the tree.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>EDDIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You know those guys?“ Mike asked when the two boys had left. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Just S-S-Stan, he‘s in my class. D-Don‘t know about the other guy,“ Bill said with a shrug.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„That‘s Richie“, said Eddie. Mike and Bill shot him a curious look. „You don‘t know him? He‘s the guy who gets called to the principal office almost every day.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„THAT‘S Richie Tozier? I thought that was a delinquent!“ Mike said, surprised. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie laughed. „Nah, I heard he gets cheeky with the teachers. I think he‘s harmless.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„So he‘s just a class c-c-c-clown?“, Bill asked. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie just shrugged „Pretty much, I guess. I haven‘t talked to him before, I was in the secretary’s office because my mom called the school, you know she does that every other day--“ Bill and Mike nodded sympathetically. „And I heard him get called in. He said to Mrs. Flecher she shouldn‘t always give him straight A‘s  just because of his big dingdong.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Ew!“, Bill explained and Mike shook his head. „What a dick..“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Yeah but apparently the dick with the best grades in our grade.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The boys decided that the pool was too packed and it wasn‘t worth getting in, so Mike pulled out a deck of Uno and they began playing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were in the middle of their second round when Eddie got startled by something wet dripped on him. He looked up and saw Richie Tozier standing behind him, dripping from head to toe while eating an ice cream. Stan was already sitting down next to them. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Whoa dude, what‘s up with your face?!“ Richie almost shouted. Eddie looked down quickly. He felt that Richie was crouching down and trying to get a better look at him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„L-l-l-leave him alone.“ Bill said and slightly pushed at Richie’s shoulder who lifted his hands in surrender. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I‘m not gonna make fun of him I just wanted to take a closer look. It looks dope!“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie felt himself blush. No one ever called his soulmark „dope“ before. He turned around and sat facing Richie whose eyes widened. „Oh, it‘s your soulmark. That looks so sick.“ He reached out his hand and touched the mark. Eddie immediately slapped his hand away. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Don‘t touch that! Are you </span>
  <em>
    <span>mental</span>
  </em>
  <span>?“, Eddie shouted. He felt his mark burn and wondered if this was normal.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie wasn‘t even looking at him; he was looking at his own arm. There was a purple mark on his forearm. The arm that Eddie just slapped to get his hand out of his face. He slowly looked up at Eddie, starstrucked. „My arm burns.“ He just said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>That‘s when Eddie jumped up and ran for the exit. He heard his friends shouting after him but he couldn‘t stop. He needed to go, go go.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Back at home Eddie locked himself in his room. His mother was shouting outside his door while Eddie came home only in his swim clothes. He said he forgot it, but was sure Mike or Bill would bring it over. He couldn‘t think with his mom shouting and all the thoughts running wild in his head. He tried to make a list in his head to calm himself down.</span>
</p><p> </p>
<ol>
<li><span> He head just met his soulmate (78% sure)</span></li>
<li><span> His soulmate was a boy (if he really was his soulmate)</span></li>
<li><span> He had just run away from his soulmate</span></li>
</ol><p> </p><p>
  <span>He went into the bathroom and looked in the mirror. He tried to fit his hand on his soulmark but could already see that his hand was much smaller than the mark. Which meant it was smaller than Richie’s hand. He thought back to the moment Richie had touched him and caught himself thinking he wished the moment would have lasted longer. He watched himself blushing in the mirror. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>When he woke up the next morning he realized he had already made a plan on how to avoid Richie today. Wasn‘t this wrong? Shouldn‘t he want to meet his soulmate? He still wasn‘t sure what to think about his soulmate being a boy. He had never really had a crush on anyone before, so did that mean he was gay? Maybe bi? But he really couldn't tell. This was so confusing. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RICHIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Richie hadn‘t gotten one minute of sleep that night. Every time he thought of the boy, Eddie Kaspbrak, he’d gotten the name from his friends, his heart sped up. Apparently they went to the same school but Richie had never seen him before. How couldn‘t he have seen him before? He was small, sure, but he was incredible cute. Richie couldn‘t stop thinking about those big brown eyes. His heart speed up again and he felt the butterflies in his stomach going crazy. Could he already be falling for the guy? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>This morning he actually put effort into his looks. He combed his hair, which didn‘t do much but make his curls look even worse than before. He washed his face and brushed his teeth thoroughly. Then he ended up in front of his closet undecidedly. Should he call Stan and ask him for help? Would it be weird to talk about a boy? He had just come out to him and they didn‘t really get to talk about it yesterday, because after Eddie had left it was all chaos with his friends running after him, Richie still being shocked of what had just happened and Stan who didn‘t know what to do at all. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Well. But Stan hadn‘t reacted negatively yesterday, so maybe it was fine? A little shakily, he started dialing Stan’s number on the house telephone. His mother picked up and told Richie that Stan was still asleep. He asked her to wake him up, he had something really important to talk about. When Stan was finally on the phone, Richie could hear he wasn‘t happy at all to have been woken up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„What?“ he grunted into the phone.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hey, man,” Richie began. „I wondered if you could help me out for a minute.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end Richie didn‘t put on anything too special. „What would he think if you suddenly showed up in a smoking, you dipshit?“, Stan had told him. So now Richie was wearing a clean pair of light blue Jeans and his newest shirt that didn‘t have any rips or spots, his mother always complained about those. He gave himself an awkward smile and a thumbs up in the mirror. „Go get him, tiger.“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>At school he couldn‘t find Eddie. He even walked the cafeteria up and down </span>
  <em>
    <span>twice</span>
  </em>
  <span>, but didn‘t spot him. Could it be that he was hiding from Richie? Why? Didn‘t he like Richie as his soulmate?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Have you thought about maybe... being mistaken?“, Stan asked him when he finally sat down at their table.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„What do you mean?“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Like,“ he made an awkward pause. „Maybe he‘s not your soulmate? I don‘t know-- these marks are just sometimes really random and you know a lot of people don‘t even find theirs.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Well, Stanny boy, trust me: he is my soulmate. When he hit me, my skin burned! I could feel it was him!“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Maybe your skin burned </span>
  <em>
    <span>because</span>
  </em>
  <span> he hit you?“ Stan, always the sceptic.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I know what I felt. It is him. He is my soulmate. And I‘m gonna whoo him.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Good luck then.“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He found Eddie by the end of the school day. He was closing up his bike so Richie’d called out to him. „Hey, Eddie Kaspbrak!“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The other boy whipped his head around and looked startled. When Richie walked closer, the other boy jumped on his bike and drove off, giving Richie no chance to follow him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>After the first day Richie was sad, on the second he was upset and on the third he was pissed. Eddie always managed to escape him. Richie only wanted to talk! What was so bad about it?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>On Friday, Richie decided to skip the last period and waited by the bike stand. He saw Eddie walking out of the building, rummaging in his backpack, apparently looking for his bike keys. When he looked up and spotted him, Richie waved. „Hey.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie just turned around and speed walked towards the bleachers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hey!“, Richie called again and ran after him. When Eddie notice Richie following him, he also started running. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie was super irritated. „Hey! Stop! I wanna talk to you!“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Stop following me.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Urgh.“ Richie speed up. Eddie was pretty fast but Richie had almost a head over him and he soon managed to catch up and grab Eddies elbow. „Hey,“ he said again. Eddie tried to get his arm free but not with much force, so Richie kept holding on. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Can we please talk?“ Richie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie wasn‘t looking at him. Then he shrugged and led Richie behind the bleachers. It wasn‘t like anyone was here anyway but okay, Richie didn‘t argue. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When they stopped, Richie didn‘t know quite what to say. „You wanna sit down?“ he asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„The floor is dirty.“ Eddie said, still not looking at him.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Here.“ Richie took of the shirt he wore over his t-shirt and put it on the floor then sat down across from it.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>EDDIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eddie gulped. He was so nice. How was he so nice? He didn‘t know Eddie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Thanks,“ he said and sat down.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„So,“ Richie Tozier rubbed his hands together. He seemed pretty nervous himself, which helped Eddie getting over his own nervousness. „The other day at the pool, was... you know like... it seems that we‘re...“, his hands were all over the place. That made Eddie smile.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Did your mark burn when we touched?“, Eddie asked.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie seemed glad to be thrown a bone here. „Yes!“ He exclaimed. „I‘ve been slapped a lot of times and it NEVER felt like that!“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I‘m sorry for hitting you,“ Eddie said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Don‘t be. You weren‘t the first one and you won't be the last one,“ Richie laughed. „Oh, I‘m Richie Tozier, by the way. Maybe should have started with that.“ He was blushing now and Eddie found it endearing. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I heard of you, Richie Tozier. I‘m Eddie Kaspbrak.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Oh, so my reputation precedes me,” he drove a hand through his hair and tried to look smooth. That made Eddie laugh. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Suddenly Richie turned shy again. „Can I, maybe, touch it again?“ He asked while his face went red as a fire extinguisher. Which made Eddie blush as well.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Uhm yeah, I guess,“ he said.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie scooted closer and slowly put his hand on Eddies cheek, right on the mark. It didn‘t burn like last time but it still tingled, his heart was racing and butterflies ran wild in the pitch of his stomach. He felt like throwing up but in a good way. He let out a sign and moved his face deeper into Richies hand. He hadn‘t even noticed that he closed his eyes, till Richie removed his hand and he had to open them. Richie‘s face was still red and he looked everywhere except at Eddie.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Can I, too?“ He asked and Richie nodded furiously. He extended his arm to Eddie who slowly put his hand on the mark. He felt Richie shiver under his touch. Eddie took Richie’s left hand into his right, while closing his left hand around Richie’s arm and stroking his thumb over the mark over and over.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I feel like puking. But in a good way.“ Richie said and Eddie couldn‘t hold back his laughter. This really was his soulmate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>He didn‘t tell his mom any of this. He knew she wouldn‘t react nicely to him finding his soulmate. He didn‘t know what she‘d think about him being a boy. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RICHIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They agreed to meet up the next day. </span>
  <em>
    <span>It was a date</span>
  </em>
  <span>, Richie thought. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>After yesterday, he went to Stans house and told him everything. Stan seemed happy for him and together they discussed what Richie and Eddie could do on their first date.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„We could go to the arcade!“ Richie suggested.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„No. You turn into a complete asshole when your there.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„That‘s not true!“ It was true, though.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>In the end, they decided that Richie should just get them ice cream and then take them to the old bridge. It was nice and quiet there. The whole town didn‘t need to know about them. Or at least not yet.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>He wanted to pick Eddie up, like the gentleman he was, but Eddie refused and said he would meet him at the bridge. It wasn‘t as easy as you‘d think it might be, riding the bike with an ice cone in each hand, but somehow Richie managed and somehow not all of it had melted yet. Eddie was already waiting for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he approached, there was an awkward pause. Should they hug? Shake hands? Kiss?? Instead of doing any of that, Richie handed Eddie one of the ice creams. „Here for you,” he said and handed him the cone like you would have handed someone a bouquet of flowers. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie just smiled and blushed slightly as he took the ice cream. Gosh, Richie was already heads over heels for this boy. The blush? Amazing! His eyes flickered to Eddies soulmark and he had to resist the urge to touch it again. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They sat down at the river and ate their ice creams. It was a nice day and it was still a hot Derry summer, so at one point they ditched their shoes and went into the river. At first, Eddie only sat at the bank and had his feet in while Richie was already waddling as deep as he could without getting his pants wet. Then he started splashing water at Eddie and a water fight began. By the end, they were both laughing and wet and lay side by side. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>This is so much fun. I love it.</span>
  </em>
  <span> Richie thought. He looked sideways at Eddie who had closed his eyes and had a big smile on his face. He looked down at their hands just laying inches apart. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Just do it,</span>
  </em>
  <span> he thought, </span>
  <em>
    <span>stop being a wuss and just do it.</span>
  </em>
  <span> He reached out slightly to brush Eddie’s hand with his at first before he took it. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie squeezed his hand and when Richie looked up again, Eddie was smiling at him. He felt so incredibly happy, like a sun was shining inside of him. How could someone be so incredibly happy?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>„Hey, you wanna grab dinner?“ Eddie asked when the sun was slowly going down. Had they really just chilled here for the whole day?</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Yes!“ Richie exclaimed and jumped up. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>While he helped Eddie up, he added: “I was worried that you already wanted to head home. I‘m very happy you want to spend more time with me-huff“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie had hug-tackled him. Eddie was holding on so tightly to him and Richie’s heart was beating so hard, he needed a second before he put his arms around Eddie as well and pressed his face onto Eddie’s head. „Seriously, you can‘t just say something like this,“ Eddie said into Richies shirt. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Why not?” He laughed. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie moved his head to look up at him. „Because it makes me fall for you really quickly.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„That‘s kinda the plan here, sugga.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>The moment was perfect. He just had to lean down and kiss Eddie and it would be the most perfect, romantic first kiss in the history of first kisses. But then he got nervous and wondered if it was too early to kiss. This was their first date after all. And then the moment was over and they were both blushing again, oh boy, what a hopeless match they were. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They went to a pizza place a bit outside of town in hope they wouldn‘t meet anyone they knew. The pizza place had outside seating and it seemed like they were full, but no one was sitting inside (because it was kinda humid) so they got an empty seat in the back of the restaurant. They shared a big pepperoni pizza and both had a coke. Richie kept catching Eddie’s legs with his feet under the table. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„You know,“ Eddie started. „I‘ve never been on a date before.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Really?“ Richie was surprised. If he had met Eddie before the pool, he would have done anything to get a date with him. Like, look at him! He is super cute, but also handsome and funny and smart and doesn‘t take shit and he likes Richie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Well, guess I‘m lucky then that no one else stole you away before I could.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Ew, Richie, too cringy, way to cringy.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both laughed.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>EDDIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Richie walked him home. At least as far as Eddie let him get to their house. Eddie feared his mother would be lurking by the window and he didn‘t want her to see Riche.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„This is enough,“ Eddie said when the stood at the end of the road.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Okay,“ Richie said. He had stopped arguing to take Eddie home all the way which Eddie was grateful for. Saying goodbye never felt this hard. They stood there for a while, loosely holding hands. After a while Eddie said: „Guess I‘ll see you on Monday.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Oh I thought we could hang out tomorrow again.“ Richie said, disappointment visible in his eyes.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Ah no, sorry, I can‘t, Sundays are for mom.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hrmpf“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Would you like to have lunch together? On Monday at school, I mean.“ At this, Richie’s face lit up again. „Definitely!“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>This night, Eddie let his mom do all the procedures she liked to do which he usually complained about. Let her measure his blood pressure, give him three different pills, for all the sicknesses he apparently had, and let her check if he had a fever (in July, sure mom). After that and after a shower he lied in bed, feeling warm and fuzzy. He touched his mark, which Richie’d had been touching occasionally. He really seemed to like touching Eddie. It was such an incredible feeling to be liked in this kinda way. He wrapped himself tighter into his blanked and fell asleep, dreaming that Richie was there with him.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>On Monday he met with Bill and Mike at their lockers. He had already talked on the phone to them. They were so excited about the soulmate thing, they didn‘t even notice they haven‘t even talked about whether Eddie was gay now or what. It didn‘t matter. And that was amazing.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>When he made his way to the cafeteria, Richie was already waiting outside. He leaned onto the wall and Eddie could tell he put effort into looking cool. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hey there,“ he said when he spotted Eddie and detached himself from the wall. „Fancy seeing you here.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Shut up.“ Eddie said, but smiled when he shoved Richie in the chest. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie had his own lunch his mom had made for him but Richie needed to buy something, so they waited in line together, chatting about their day so far. They found a table in the back of the cafeteria. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They weren't alone for long, though. Stan, Bill and Mike walked towards them as soon as they spotted them.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hey, how you‘re doing?“ Mike and Bill sat left and right from Eddie, shit-eating grins on their faces, while Stan sat down next to Richie. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„S-so R-Richie. We h-h-heard s-so much a-a-bout you.“, Bill said and Richie rolled his eyes. He seemed to be annoyed that their lunch date was crashed by their best friends, but not too much.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>The first week of knowing his soulmate was amazing. Eddie had so much fun not only with Richie but they build a whole new friends group together and they all got along so well? He wished they all had knew each other sooner. Eddie noticed, though, that Richie was the one that always took the initiative for like asking for him on a date or taking his hand, so Eddie really wanted to turn some tables. So on Friday he slipped a note into Richie’s locker before school was out and then hurried home to make some preparations.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>RICHIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Richie walked past Eddie’s classroom to see if the other boy was still there, but the room was already deserted. So he walked over to Eddie’s locker but he also wasn‘t there. Maybe Eddie was waiting at Richie’s locker for him! Convinced that he would meet his boyfriend there he basically jumped down the hallway. Wait. Were they even boyfriends? They haven‘t talked about that yet. Richie came to an halt in front of his locker. Eddie wasn‘t here either. The schoolbell had only rang like 5 minutes ago, where was he? Had he already gone home? Richie was upset. He and Eddie had been hanging out every day after school this week. Did he do something wrong? He opened his locker to shove his books inside when he noticed a piece of paper had fallen out. He bent down to pick it up.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I wanna see the stars with you</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Meet me tomorrow at 6pm at the bridge</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie felt like he would melt into a puddle any moment. This was way too romantic, he wasn‘t sure he could handle this. He also noticed this was the first time Eddie had asked him on a date. But he really needed to figure out this boyfriend stuff. He wanted Eddie to be his boyfriend and he was sure Eddie wanted that as well. They were soulmates after all, duh. Gosh, this was incredible. His life was incredible! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Like the fool in love that he was, he ran into almost every pole on his way home but he couldn‘t care less. Back home he went into his room and locked the door. He wasn‘t ready to tell his family yet and he didn‘t bother to think about the time when he had to. Right now he just wanted to be happy and in love. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He put on some music and dance around in his room, he felt full of energy and like he could run a marathon. It was kinda funny how he never really thought about finding his soulmate and suddenly he had found him. Suddenly his mark und his arm was his favorite part of his body. Just thinking about Eddie touching it made him shiver. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He hated the fact that he had to wait over 24 hours to see Eddie again, but until then he would be patiently walking up and down in his room. Like the patient person he was, he started rummaging through his closet to find something to wear. He wished Eddie had gave him a clue on what they would be doing. Would this finally be the time for his nice dress shirt? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He threw himself back onto the bed. Would he ever be able to think about anything else than Eddie Kaspbrak again? He summoned an image of Eddie behind his closed eyelids. Eddie was adorable from head to toe. His hands where thin and his fingers long, Richie loved holding them. Eddie’s face was particular cute. His pointy nose and his usual furrowed eyebrows. And of course his soulmark. Which was Richie's handprint! That was kinda the most amazing part. His hand would be forever on Eddie's face. He especially loved touching it. He kept thinking about Eddie’s mouth. They still haven‘t kissed yet but God did Richie want to. Maybe tomorrow would be the day. Imagining him and Eddie kissing, Richie had to hide his face in the pillows and started stomping his feet on the bed. He was so excited for tomorrow.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Richie was in fact so excited on Saturday that he already reached their meeting spot at half past 5. He did wear the dress shirt and a nice jacket over it. He was super nervous but couldn‘t quite put a finger on it. It wasn‘t like this was their first date or anything. Lucky for him, he didn‘t have to wait too long, because soon Eddie was arriving from the other side of the bridge. This was kinda odd, because he lived in the opposite direction.  Where had he been? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„You‘re here early,” he called out to Richie before he reached him. He was by foo,  which was even stranger. He also had dressed nicely, Richie noticed. He was glad not to be overdressed. When Eddie finally stood in front of Richie they didn‘t quite know what to do. Suddenly they were awkward again. Then Eddie took the initiative again by taking Richie’s hand in his. „Let‘s go.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>It was a little difficult navigating his bike with only one hand but he managed. They walked along the river till they reached a tree where Richie could see Eddie's bike in the grass. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„You can leave your bike here,” Eddie said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Where are you taking me?“ Richie finally remembered to ask. Just Eddie’s presence had been enough to distract him from anything else. „That‘s a surprise, smartass.“ Richie liked surprises, he really did. After he put his bike down next to Eddie’s, he felt Eddie walking up behind him. He put his hands over Richie’s eyes, which must be an awkward position for him because of their height difference. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Oh so this is a </span>
  <em>
    <span>surprise</span>
  </em>
  <span>, surprise.“ Richie teased. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Shut up. Just start walking.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span> „Okay, okay, you‘re the boss.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They didn‘t walk for too long and when they stopped Eddie kept his hands over Richie’s eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„So.“ Richie said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie cleared his throat. „I‘m kinda regretting this whole thing right now. It‘s really cheesy.“ He really sounded afraid. But there was no way Richie would hate anything Eddie would do for him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I like being cheesy with you.“ Richie assured him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>He could feel Eddie taking a deep breath. „Okay, please don‘t laugh.“ Then he removed his hands from Richie’s eyes. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>They were standing in a field a few yards away from the river. There was a giant picnic blanket on the ground surrounded by pillows and in the middle Richie could see a basket. He thought his heart might had stopped. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Eddie, how strong are you?“  </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„What?“ Eddie asked confused. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I think I‘m about to swoon.“ And then he let himself drop into Eddie’s arms. The other boy didn‘t really manage to catch him and they both landed on the ground. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Richie!“ Eddie complained. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie leaned his head back and looked at Eddie. „I fucking love this.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie’s face turned an incredible shade of red. „Just get off of me you dork.“</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>EDDIE</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Eddie was relieved that Richie liked his picnic idea. They settled down on the blanket. The pillows had been Bill’s idea. Bill and Mike had helped him last night brainstorming his date idea. Mike even had come over and helped him set everything up and brought some stuff from the butcher. So now they had fresh bread, butter, ham, some hard boiled eggs and some coke. Eddie also brought a tupperware with watermelon slices. Richie was gushing over everything, as Eddie showed him what was inside of the basket. They ate and talked and Eddie had to congratulate himself for being such a good date planer. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>The sun was slowly going down and dipped everything in beautiful pink light.</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„This is so beautiful.“ Richie said and Eddie turned his head to look at the sinking sun behind him. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„It really is.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I wasn‘t talking about the sun.“ Richie said. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie turned around again and looked at Richie. He must have moved closer because their knees were touching now. Eddie swallowed. Were they about to kiss? He really wanted to, but he didn‘t know what to do. He never kissed anyone. How did this work? </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie took his hands and bowed his head. „You know I‘ve wanted to ask you something.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Sure, go ahead.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Richie didn‘t speak immediately. It was kinda funny how they were both so awkward and nervous even though they clearly both liked each other! </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I wondered,“ Richie continued after a while. „If you wanted to be my boyfriend.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie’s heart skipped a beat. „Wha- YES of course!“ Eddie let out a laugh. He didn‘t know what he expected Richie would ask but it wasn‘t this. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Yeah?“ Richie looked up and smiled brightly.</span>
</p><p>
  <span> „Of course, you dork.“</span>
</p><p>
  <span> „You‘re kinda teasing me a lot today, you notice that?“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie just shrugged. „Well, you know what they say about boys teasing their crush.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„So I‘m your crush?“ Richie’s grin was getting bigger. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I‘m starting to reconsider.“ </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„Hey!“</span>
</p><p>
  <span>They both leaned forward and started laughing. They almost knocked their foreheads together. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie looked up to see Richie’s face right in front of him, looking back. „Hey, Eds,“ he whispered, then leaned forward and brushed his lips against Eddie’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>Eddie leaned in so he could really feel Richie’s lips on his. He didn‘t knew what to do with his hands so he just grabbed a fistfull of Richie’s shirt so he had something to hold on. Richie lifted his hand and placed it right on Eddie’s mark. He wondered for a quick second how Richie had found it without looking, but then couldn‘t think anymore because the kiss and Richie’s hand on his mark made him dizzy. Butterflies were going crazy in his stomach. And then Richie started moving his lips against Eddie’s. He tried to follow suit and mimic Richie’s movements. It didn‘t quite work and they both broke the kiss to laugh a little. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>But Eddie couldn‘t keep his mouth away from Richie and a second later he was moving towards him again, pressing his lips against Richie’s hard. Richie responded immediately. This time moving their lips against each other went more smoothly. When Richie put his other hand in Eddie’s hair, he licked at Eddie’s lower lip and Eddie opened his mouth a little more. He wasn‘t sure if this already counted as french kissing when they only brushed their tongues together lightly but Eddie liked it. He really, really liked kissing Richie. How would he ever be able to stop?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They laid in the blankets, Richie rested on the pillows and Eddie was in his arms, and his head was resting on Richie’s shoulder. Their legs were tangled up and they kissed occasionally. Eddie put a hand on Richie’s chest to feel his heartbeat. It was fast but steady and it matched Eddie’s. </span>
</p><p>
  <span>„I‘m so glad I found you,“ Richie said and squeezed Eddie tighter. </span>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Me too,</span>
  </em>
  <span> Eddie thought. </span>
  <em>
    <span>Me too.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p>
  </div></div>
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